Feds release Chauncey Billups and Terry Rozier amid sweeping NBA-linked mafia gambling probe connecting players to rigged poker and betting rings.

Tiago Splitter is serving as head coach of the Portland Trail Blazers with Chauncey Billups on leave amid the NBA's gambling scandal.

Chauncey Billups, investigators allege, was known as a “face card.” He and other former professional athletes were used to attract victims to the poker games.

Co-Conspirator 8 informed Earnest, prior to the news becoming public, that several of the Blazers’ best players would not be playing. According to the indictment, Earnest gave the inside information to Marves Fairley, another defendant, for the purposes of betting on the game. Fairley promised to pay Earnest at least $5,000 if the bets paid off.

This week’s news that Chauncey Billups, Terry Rozier and Damon Jones were swept up in federal investigations into illegal gambling is a reminder of how betting can damage a league’s